Gooseneck trailer

[Sandhill]

I've reason to be shopping for a powerful tractor, and came across the Claas Xerion in the in game Modhub. You need deep pockets. It has some interesting features though, including a high and forward mounted ball hitch for a gooseneck trailer, similar to what you see in pickup beds for camper or horse trailers. I'm wondering if it might be a solution in search of a problem, though, as when i search "gooseneck trailer" all I find is trailers with fifth wheel (semi trailer) type hitches.
I'd love to be able to haul the kind of weight a gooseneck hitch allows, centered between the axles and, on the Xerion up to 33,000 pounds tongue weight, but lacking a gooseneck hitch trailer it might not be an option. Know of any that I've missed? Again, the trailer would have a cup which fits over a ball, not a pin that slides into a fifth wheel.

[Preble 818]

Download the fifth wheel mod from the modhub. Theres a gooseneck trailer in with it. No idea if it works with the xerion though.

[Sandhill]

Those are semi trailer hitch trailers I think...saw a video of during my search. I'll check to be sure, thanks for the tip!

[Sandhill]

No joy, that is a fifth wheel (semi) hitch. Gooseneck as a term seems to refer both to the profile of a trailer and to the type of hitch where a ball is mounted in the bed of a pickup. The Xerion has the ball, but it seems kind of useless if nothing can be attached. Doesn't take away from the other features of the tractor, just not a feature in itself.

[cmdrbyron]

There are some mod packs (at least on PC - unsure if on console) that include two trailers - a tipper and a slurry tank.

[Sandhill]

Wish I could find them, I really want an excuse to buy a Xerion The fact that you can't take advantage of one of it's coolest features has just continued to put me off.

[redglasses]

Cant you just drive the tractor or are you playing on a huge map?

[Sandhill]

Yeah, I'm just being a jerk, really. The thing is a monster capable of full on semi truck loads using the gooseneck ball, and it just surprises me the lack of gooseneck trailers. Even given it's rotating cab, equal sized wheels, and four wheel steering I don't enjoy just driving it that much, I suppose because it's so darn big. Useful trailers would, I think, be the tipping point for me.

[Kamoore65536]

The problem with most gooseneck trailers is they are not made to haul that much weight on a ball hitch. Most of the ball type hitches I have been around are limited to 25,000lbs/12,000kg weight maximum. The diameter of the ball shaft is the limiting factor.

[ClassicTractors]

Do you have a picture of this hitch setup? I'm very curious as to what this looks like.

[Sandhill]

From Claas:

the hitch


and their comment about it,

"High load-carrying capacity.
The 110 mm ball hitch behind the cab supports a maximum drawbar load of 15 tonnes. A swanneck connection with mounted implements makes the tractor/implement combination shorter and more manoeuvrable than other attachment systems. The hitch ball absorbs the high loads and distributes them evenly across the entire axles."

in action IRL


and their comment about it,

"The swanneck coupling has become an accepted method of attaching trailed slurry tankers. The 110 mm ball hitch behind the cab is designed to take a maximum drawbar load of 15 t, and the ball position immediately behind the cab distributes the drawbar load across both axles. Having the hitch directly behind the cab gives a smaller turning radius and a much shorter combination length than a tractor with a rear-mounted slurry tanker."

The ball position plus four wheel steering would sure give you tight turns. The tractor is on the in game ModHub and there you can see the hitch better than the pics I've posted. Unfortunately, you can't try it out

[ClassicTractors]

That's really cool. I knew some of the old Industrial Steiger tractors could get a gooseneck hook up, but I didn't know they (goosenecks) were still used on modern tractors.

[Sandhill]

And note that Claas calls them "swannecks", maybe I've been searching the wrong species when I look for gooseneck.

[redglasses]

OHHHHHHHH thats what you mean, I thought you wanted to buy a truck and trailer to haul the tractor around

[ilovetrains]

AFAIK the only IRL manufacturer that makes equipment to use the swanneck is Kaweco. Note that the ball hitch diameter would be 4.3 inches...quite a bit larger than a 2 5/16 ball hitch for goosenecks (at least in the states.) So you could not use it to pull a typical gooseneck trailer, and of course the height would be way off.